Somewhere along the line I learned that being jealous is not good. I should be happy when someone does well.
Congratulations Juarez!
Children’s museum
Our border neighbor is opening it’s brand new $23 million dollar children’s museum this Friday.
One board member (this person is also a member of the sports group in El Paso) was quoted recently as saying “We want to present (children) with something different from their daily lives and that they can dream big.”
The museum board president said “It is a temple of the city’s restructuring, where children will be learning and constructing a new city”.
Baseball park
Also, on November 19 of last year Juarez opened it’s brand new 12,000 seat baseball stadium costing $15 million. Their AAA team, the Indios will play there.
The famous entertainer Juan Gabriel performed at the opening.
It is located at the corner of Reforma and Sanders, an irony that none of us “crazies” could have made up.
Congratulations El Paso
Children’s museum
El Paso might eventually get a new children’s museum. We voted to fund one in the quality of life bonds. The city does not have the museum in it’s current roll out plan that covers the next three years, but don’t give up hope we might get one eventually.
Our museum is scheduled to cost $19.25 million.
We had one but it got torn down to build what is evidently our “temple of the city’s restructuring” — our new baseball stadium.
I guess our children’s big dream will have to be about the big debt that our local leaders are leaving for them.
Baseball park
We might get a new baseball park too. If nothing else goes wrong ours will cost more than $64 million before financing. Current estimates are that it will seat 8,000 to 9,000 people.
While we probably will not be able to afford Juan Gabriel (look at the city budget) we might be able to get our former mayor to play his guitar.
Greener grass
Lest any of you think that Juarez is getting a better deal here, I need to point out that while El Paso destroyed it’s city hall at a cost of over $70 million for it’s new ballpark, the poor people of Juarez had to tear down a brewery to make room for their ballpark.
We deserve better
elpasospeak 
Right on, Brutus! And we so readily accuse our Mexican neighbors of having a “mordida” problem? Who’s getting “the bite” over here?
LikeLike
It appears that Juarez has its priorities in better order than El Paso. Juarez limited the spending on its new baseball stadium to approximately $10 million and spent more than double that amount on their new children’s museum. The cost of our new “field of dreams” will be three times — or more — the budgeted cost of our next children’s museum, assuming our replacement museum ever becomes a reality. So Juarez clearly values the education of its children more than baseball.
Alejandra de la Vega Foster, one of the Mountainstar owners and a member of the board of the new Juarez children’s museum, has this to say about the new Juarez museum: “We want to present them with something different from their daily lives and that they can dream big.”
It’s nice that Ms. de la Vega Foster wants to inspire her native country’s children to dream big. We already had one baseball team and one stadium, but as owners of downtown real estate, she and her husband felt our children needed not something different, but more of the same; just downtown where it will enhance the value of their personal investments. In fact, they were in favor of bulldozing the one museum our children already had.
While Juarez children dream big, our El Paso children can dream about peanuts, popcorn and crackerjacks. They best not dream of the arts or for better libraries; both our art museums and libraries are facing budget cuts in the currently proposed budget. And they can only dream about the Insights Museum, which we destroyed to make room for the new ballpark.
Our misplaced priorities clearly suggest to our own children that sports is far more important than education, science and technology, which a far more realistic path to a better life than are sports. For kids dreaming of a career in public service, they are learning that special interests are more important than the public good. For those dreaming of career in finance, they are learning that certain people in the private sector can finance their personal businesses on the backs of taxpayers. For those with entrepreneurial dreams, they are learning that their own business (e.g., a hotel) might one day be taxed simply to fund another person’s dream. Some might consider this redistribution of wealth — or robbing Peter to pay Paul and Woody.
And we dare wonder why our children dream of leaving El Paso?
Admission to the Juarez children’s museum will be $5 or $20 for a family of four, while Mountainstar and El Paso city management represented to us that the per visitor spend at our ballpark will be $40 or $160 for a family of four. (I am taking city management at their word even though their number is more than double Minor League Baseball’s own estimate of spending at AAA games, which is another issue altogether. http://bizofbaseball.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4300:avg-cost-for-family-of-4-to-see-minor-league-baseball-game-is-57&catid=19:latest-milb-news&Itemid=34 )
So much for affordable family entertainment, the marketing of which will be targeted at kids to get them to pressure their parents to spend money that many of them cannot truly afford to spend.
In the run-up to the vote to approve the new stadium, Josh Hunt told council members that the new stadium would be their legacy. He’s right. It just might not be the legacy that they dreamed of.
LikeLike
But those hot dog jobs that AAA will create are so ideally suited to the skill level of EPISD grads. Perfect match! Paul and Woody must have thought this before we peasants even grasped the possiblilty.
LikeLike
As I read El Paso Speak each day, I am wondering if any of these well-written articles could be placed in the El Paso Times or El Paso Inc. El Paso Speak has become a wonderful think tank, but unfortunately, only a few of us are benefitting from the constructive thoughts and analysis which we read daily. This thread of comments needs to be read by all El Pasoans who care about El Paso’s future. All I can say is “job well done” by all who contribute to El Paso Speak.
LikeLike
We are the few, the proud, the crazies. On second thought, if we’re part of the 74%, I guess there are more than a few of us.
LikeLike
May the numbers be with you
LikeLike
We thank you for the compliment.
I would think that the Times has decided to not publish this kind of information, so I doubt that they would welcome our input. Then again maybe I am giving them too much credit.
The Inc. seems to want to stay away from controversy, regardless of the side.
Our readership is growing. Facebook got upset with us for making friend requests of people that we do not actually know.
Our growth today is coming from word of mouth. Telling people about elpasospeak.com or inviting them through social media are the best paths that we can think of to increase readership.
Brutus
LikeLike